In many ways, my life is complete, or as complete as it can be with aliens roaming Earth, killing and enslaving humans. Jason, my love, is by my side, and my friendship with Wade is back on track. Even better, it seems the threats of annihilation from the aliens have turned out to be nothing but hot air.

Yet, despite the peace of our Arrowwood refuge, there is still a war waging outside, something I’ve tried not to think too much about. Just as I’ve ignored the fact that a sanctuary can also be a prison, or a tomb, we are forced to step out of safety and live or die, in danger’s embrace.

EXCERPT

Brook’s
whimpering sounds through the darkness. My eyes have adjusted to the night and
I can make out who everyone is and the layout of the room.

“Shh,”
Rocky coaxes. “We’re going to be fine. We’ll all be fine.”

I
hear her mumbling cries about how scared she is, probably talking more to
herself than to her dad.

“Everyone
get some rest,” Rocky says in a whisper. “We’ll be here for another twenty-four
hours, might as well use this time to rejuvenate.”

“Twenty-four
hours?” my mom asks. “Shouldn’t we try to leave as soon as the bombs stop?”

“No,
we’ll need to stay hidden. I’m sure the aliens will be sticking around for a
while just to make sure they’ve gotten us this time. They might also do some
ground patrols around Arrowwood. Let’s not give them a reason to expand their
search. Captain Page, Dave, Eric and I all agreed to get our groups to a
hide-out and stay hidden for twenty-four hours.”

My
mom doesn’t press the issue. Instead she lets her gaze wander over the room. We
were in what had once been a recreation room. The pool table is still standing
in the center. A thick layer of dust covers the surface and pool balls are in a
basket underneath the table. A foosball table sits on the other side of the
room, and is in the same shape as the pool table. Three bean bag chairs are on
the floor in front of a television that is mounted on the wall. On the other
side of the wall there are shelves where puzzles and board games are arranged
neatly.

I
can’t help but wonder if she’s having the same thoughts I had when I first came
here a year ago; that this place was almost like a time capsule of how life
used to be. Wondering if sometime, many years from now, a new generation might
stumble upon it and see that life wasn’t always so hard, that there had been
plenty of good times. If the future humans would feel the need to play pool
using the sticks that still hang on the wall or open one of the games.

I
snuggle up to Jason, and Winston presses his body against mine. I can feel him
shivering. Poor thing was probably remembering the hyenas that had chased him
the last time he was up top.

“It’ll
be okay, boy,” I say, scratching him behind his ear.

“Di,”
Rocky says, reaching for her shoulder. “We’ll get through this.”

My
mom pushes a piece of hair away from her face and smiles tightly. “I know we
will.”

This one time, at band camp…aliens invaded earth. Sounds like a bad riff on an old joke, doesn’t it? Unfortunately for me and my friends, it’s all too true. I thought a mess like this only happened in the movies but, as I watch the alien ships hovering over the major cities, I suddenly realize I’m a thousand miles away from my Mom. From home. From safety.

Darkness may have fallen over the world, but I won’t let it claim me. I’ll do anything I have to get back to Michigan. Yet nothing could prepare me for what we find on our trek north from Tallahassee. There’s hardly anything the aliens haven’t bombed. Survival, at any cost, is the name of the game for the few people who haven’t been killed or captured. As if trying to stay free and alive isn’t enough, I think I just met the love of my life. And he’s just the kind of bad boy who’ll tear down the walls I’ve built around my heart—then break it.

We’re at war against the aliens that have invaded Earth, fighting the only way we can—by surviving. I have more than most people do, but although I know it’s stupid to hold on, I can’t let go of what might have been—can’t help dreaming of something more. No matter how I tell myself it would be easier to do what everyone else wants me to, there’s a part of me that can’t give in.

Making the best of the situation is one thing. Settling, even to make other people happy, is something else.

Then we hear the alien mother ships have disappeared. Of course we have to go and investigate. What we find lands us in a huge mess that we somehow have to clean up and, as our little enclave is rocked to the core with even more changes, I’m learning a hard lesson.

The more things change—for the better or the worse—there’s no fighting human nature, and building on the ashes that remain will take everything we have. And maybe more.

A.M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks, mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She’s a hard worker whose two favorite outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.